A MAN suspected of murdering his wife visited the lake where her body was found and insisted: I did not kill her.

Evelyn Lund, 52, was found dead on the back seat of her 4x4 Toyota Landcruiser at the bottom of the Bancali lake in southern France in October, 2001.

The mother-of-three, formerly of Winter Hill, Darwen, had been reported missing from her converted farmhouse in La Veaute by her second husband, Robert, 22 months earlier.

Police still don't know what caused the death of Evelyn, whose first husband was from Burnley and who has relatives in Rawtenstall, Darwen and Blackburn.

Robert, 51, admits he is the police's prime suspect and agreed to accompany the Lancashire Evening Telegraph to the exact place where his wife's body was found.

He said he had not been to the location since his wife's death for fear of incriminating himself.

Three lines of inquiry have remained on both sides of the Channel.

Was it an accident, suicide or murder?

Robert, a former council tree surgeon who lived in a Darwen council flat before marrying Evelyn, has been taken into custody twice in connection with his wife's disappearance, but was released each time without charge.

And he is determined to prove his innocence with the backing of friends.

"I did not do it and I had nothing to do with her disappearance," he said while standing at the lakeside.

"I have nothing to fear from the police investigation because I have nothing to hide.

"I felt I could not go to the lake before or the gendarmes would think I was doing something suspicious. The notion that I married for money creates a false motive. I loved her.

"I think my wife took a wrong turn the night she disappeared when she was returning from her friend's house. I think she has driven her 4x4 into the lake by accident.

"The only reason that the investigation has gone on for so long is because the French gendarmes did not find her body sooner. I wish they had, then all this agony could have been avoided.

"I miss 'Ev' a lot. She was part of my life. In each life a little ray must fall and she was that ray."

Mr Lund has worked to re-build his life and now says he is more 'French than English'. He works in the nearby town of Albi as a labourer "to make ends meet".

His friend, Barbara Bullen, is currently living with him in the farm house and has regularly brought her grandchildren over to visit.

Barbara, of Lammack, Blackburn, was a close friend of Evelyn's and her first husband Arthur.

The French gendarmes have worked tirelessly over the last four years but have yet to prove one way or another what happened that frosty night in December.

Forensic tests and inquiries are still on going into the mystery of the 'lady in the lake'.

Evelyn's daughter Patricia Taylor, of Franklin Road, Blackburn, has campaigned tirelessly for justice.

She said she hoped the inquiry would soon be concluded and crucial evidence would be revealed.

Ian Kennedy, of Lancashire Police's Crime Investigation Office said: "This is an active investigation with experts still working on the case and progressing with it. The case could be concluded in France - or in England by the necessary authorities given that it is a British Citizen who has died abroad."